


damage less severe

by entanglement



Category: Veep
Genre: M/M, get the curse jar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 22:10:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4539246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entanglement/pseuds/entanglement
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>uhhhhh<br/>this is unfinished and may stay unfinished<br/>sorry but here it is</p>
    </blockquote>





	damage less severe

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhhh  
> this is unfinished and may stay unfinished  
> sorry but here it is

If Dan's keeping count, which he always fucking is, this is the fifth time he's found himself in the supply closet at work with Jonah. He doesn't quantify how many times count as "too many", only the ones that count and don't count, so the current official tally is five. Five times.

Actually, he doesn't count the time they necked on Jonah's sofa like teenagers, tipsy on cheap beer and ears ringing from that horrible band that didn't even have a name, because that was just part of gathering information. It's too job related to add to the five. He also doesn't count the few other times he'd been lured back to Jonah's place despite his absolute lack of charm and even after he'd found out Dan betrayed him, because this was just another way to get under Jonah's skin. So it's five. Five times he actually gave in and admitted to himself that yes, he wanted this to happen.

Five times for it to graduate from random occurences to something that feels like an actual arrangement. Shit, maybe it was like three or four times because that's how many passed before Jonah finally scored an actual contact in his phone without being deleted within a day.

Jonah must feel that arrangement slipping away because whenever they're finally alone, he always kisses first and the kiss always carries something that they both know he shouldn't be promising. Dan obliges, of course, and reassures himself just like the other times that five isn't that big a number.

+

It's like the millionth time they've done this or something and Dan's still so fucking skittish.

It's a pretty simple process: Dan will be his usual soulless piece of shit self for awhile until the weird mechanics of attraction somehow warp him into someone worth fucking and then they end up either wedged into a supply closet somewhere or in someone's office while Dan nervously eyes the door and frantically racks his brain for proof that he'd locked it. Dealing with his anxiety is annoying as shit and he considers leaving every time, because there isn't a chance in hell he's gonna get roped into any xanax popping asshole's mental illness, but that's always precisely when Dan finally allows himself to relax. His dark eyes focus on Jonah's and fuck, he's hot again.

Seriously, the whole thing under the right conditions is unfuckupable. Dan's just an easy lay in close proximity, but it's hard not to take pity on him with kisses that suggest something lasting when he considers the loneliness that must come with being such a gigantic dick.

 

 

 

 

Dan eventually sacrifices yet another piece of his dignity and lets himself lose count. As if that's not enough of a loss, his job comes next.

Without an office, Jonah's at his apartment. He welcomes the distraction, but it gets harder to define their relationship when he catches Jonah the next morning gathering up takeout containers he'd abandoned in front of the TV and attempting to make him breakfast. It's weird. It's fucking obvious it's weird, but there's nothing left that warrants any posturing, so why not let the weirdness happen? It's easier to just ignore that this is how someone slips into your life and destroys the whole fucking thing from the inside out. Whatever. Fuck it. He's moments away from having things back on track and he'll have the energy to stop whatever the fuck this is.

He stares at Jonah over the food he eventually sits in front of him, trying to telepathically send what he's thinking into Jonah's brain so his mouth won't have to form the words, but eventually, it does.

"You're not fucking anyone else," he says.

"Why would I be fucking anyone else?" Jonah asks. He leans into Dan's field of view so he can't fall back into his thoughts like he desperately wants to. "Here's a better question: Why aren't you fucking anyone else?"

"How do you know I'm not?" Dan asks. He's not, but Jonah doesn't know that for sure.

"Same thing you probably figured about me. If you were getting laid, you wouldn't need me, would you? Come to think of it, if getting laid was the only objective, you still wouldn't need me."

"Good fucking point," Dan mutters, still avoiding the question. "Why are you still here anyway?"

"I was just wondering that myself, asshole," Jonah spits back.

A few minutes later, Dan chuckles as he stands at the window, watching Jonah walk down the street towards his car with a little more slouch than usual in his shoulders.

.

Here's a fucking joke of a situation: Jonah finds himself taking care of Dan.

Maybe he's exaggerating. Picking up a few crusty take out containers off the coffee table and cobbling together a breakfast that could only be defined as edible the morning after fucking their brains out is hardly taking care of someone. Dan looks only slightly better than shitty this morning, but still, Jonah's not about to offer up a shoulder to cry on. Shit, if Dan shows any sign that he might possibly shed a single tear, he'll be gone before the first sniffle.

"If I was gonna poison you, I would've done it a long time ago. Eat," Jonah mutters when Dan eyes his breakfast suspiciously.

"You're not fucking anyone else."

Jonah's not an idiot. Even when Dan's down, there's this look he gets in his eyes always betrays him before he can make the attempt to pull anyone else down with him. He's seen other people fall for it and dodge it, but knowing doesn't stop him from taking the bait and he finds himself storming out a few minutes after, smoldering and muttering to himself on the way back to his car.


End file.
